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tocracy loses itself in a spiritual fog. This last result has been 
laid hold of by the modern agnostic, and propounded in the 
guise of a philosophical system. ‘The last new phase of the 
philosophical Evolution of Religion is to find out that there is 
and can be no such thing. 
17. If, now, history shows that deterioration has been the law 
of all religions among men, is it reasonable to suppose that in 
pre-historic times the opposite law prevailed? It can, of 
course, be supposed that the acme of religious evolution had 
been reached before history began, and that nothing but a 
waning phase has been visible since. But this would be 
pure supposition, and could only be adopted for the purpose 
of sustaining a previously - accepted theory. Hxperience 
points to nothing but deterioration as the general tendency 
manifested in the actual evolution of religions in the world. 
18. But, if this be so, how happens it that any religion now 
exists in the world that is not altogether debased ? This leads 
us to another generalisation which seems to me to hold good 
very widely if not universally. It is, that the Elevation of 
Religion takes place through Individuals. Particular men lay 
vigorous hold upon particular religious truths, and bring them 
into prominence, forcing them upon the attention and accept- 
ance of men by their own personal energy in the grasp of them. 
Often they found new religions upon them, and sometimes 
devote their lives with heroic courage and endurance to the 
propagation of them. 'T’o say nothing of Christianity, which 
stands on a different footing, the Jews’ religion rests upon 
Moses. Zoroaster is regarded as the founder of Parseeism. 
Buddha originated the religion—if suchit can be called—that has 
spread most widely in the world. Mohammed is the Prophet 
of Islam. And most of the countless sects that exist within 
all the greater religions have their names, because they have 
had their birth, from some particular person. 
19. It is in the nature of things impossible to demonstrate 
that such also has been the origin of traditional religions. For 
their origin is pre-historic. Yet the traditions themselves in 
most cases point to one person, or a very few, as having given 
rise to the cultws which the nation has received. At all events 
this is often the case when the religion contains any really 
spiritual elements, though it may not be so when the change, 
being towards the material, may have been the result of popular 
depravation. Thus it is difficult to determine exactly the posi- 
tion of the Rishis with respect to the Veda. But the Hindus 
themselves regard them as much more than the composers of 
particulars hymns or groups of hymns. In the ‘“‘Ramayan” and 
other popular poems they are exalted to a position in the skies, 
